USC’s D’Anton Lynn claims no contact for UCLA opening
The defensive coordinator served in the same role at UCLA in the 2023 season.
USC football Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn shot down rumors of an ascendant return to UCLA as head coach when he addressed reporters Wednesday after practice.
“We have a lot of stuff on defense that we need to clean up and improve on,” Lynn said. “That’s where all my focus is right now.”
DeShaun Foster was dismissed from his head coaching position at UCLA on Sunday after a deplorable, 0-3 start to the season that included back-to-back losses to Mountain West Conference teams. Soon after, Lynn surged atop lists of candidates prospectively suited to fill the vacancy, thanks in large part to his history with the Bruins.
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Regardless, Lynn adamantly expressed his permanence within Head Coach Lincoln Riley’s system. After all, he signed a contract extension with USC in January that made him one of the highest-paid assistants in college football.
The Trojans’ defensive unit is still a work in progress, though Lynn has successfully superseded the lamentable legend of USC’s previous coordinator, Alex Grinch. When Lynn supplanted Grinch’s system last season, the Trojans yielded 10 fewer points per game, rehabilitating their national ranking in points allowed from No. 121 (34.4) to No. 56 (24.1).
USC is maintaining its progression; in their first three games of 2025, the Trojans permitted just 16.7 points on average and tied for first in the nation in sacks with 14.
Considering the brevity of Foster’s career coaching at UCLA and the quickness with which he was hired — the search lasted less than 72 hours — the Bruins will likely take more time with this decision. Perhaps in the same vein, Lynn acknowledged the duration and complexity of hiring operations when asked if he had ambitions of becoming a head coach.
“I think everyone who gets into coaching wants to at some point,” Lynn said of becoming a head coach. “But it’s a long process. There’s so much in front of your face that if you stop paying attention to that, bad things happen.”
On Saturday, Lynn will be focused on holding the line at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum against Michigan State, but in the future, he may still pick up a call, whether that be from the other end of town or elsewhere.
